The Thorn West is a state and local news roundup compiled by members of DSA-LA. Our goal is to provide a weekly update on the latest developments in state and local politics, and to track the issues that are most important to our membership.

Issue No. 5 - April 10, 2020

LOCAL NEWS

Governor Gavin Newsom announced that 2.3 million unemployment claims have been processed in the last four weeks. Many newly unemployed workers are struggling to access benefits as phone lines are overwhelmed during the daily four-hour window provided by the Employment Development Department. In response, state lawmakers have called to extend the hours. Other weaknesses in the system have also been exposed: California’s unemployment benefits have not kept up with inflation, and limited reserves mean that the state will likely have to borrow from the federal government to pay out the massive increase in claims. Starting Sunday, weekly benefits will increase by $600, funded by the federal stimulus relief package. However, the state has not yet been able to develop a mechanism for distributing benefits to the newly expanded pool of workers eligible for unemployment, which includes people who are self-employed, temporary workers, part-time workers, freelancers, contract workers, and gig economy workers.

With coronavirus spreading at a San Diego detention center, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says it will review cases for release nationwide. This may be too little too late for some high-risk detainees who have been placed in close proximity to other potentially infected detainees due to an ICE practice known as “cohorting.” If one detainee in a unit tests positive for the virus, then all of the other detainees in that same unit become “cohorts” and are isolated together, which means that someone could avoid being infected by the initial positive carrier only to be placed together with others who are potentially contagious for two weeks. Then if another cohort tests positive, the clock is reset and the detainees must weather another 14-day period. Detainees say the practice of cohorting is particularly anxiety-inducing for those with conditions that make them susceptible to severe COVID-19 symptoms.

California officials are looking at some measures to ease overcrowded prisons as more prison officials test positive for coronavirus. These potentially include 6-month early release for thousands of inmates, setting bail at zero for misdemeanor and lower-level felony offenses, and the expansion of video and phone use to ensure defendants are not held in custody without timely hearings.

While the Bay Area has prohibited almost all residential and commercial construction, most of California is continuing with construction projects amid the pandemic, with Governor Gavin Newsom saying that a wide ban like in the state of New York is not necessary. Robbie Hunter, the head of the Building and Construction Trades Council of California, which represents 460,000 workers and 60,000 apprentices, backed Newsom, saying “We are used to serious training for different scenarios — and we have applied everything we've got on this.” Despite their assurances, at least one worker has tested positive at the construction site for the SoFi Stadium, the future home of the NFL’s Chargers and Rams, and another is suspected positive. One worker said “If our safety was the most important thing, they wouldn’t have us out here,” while another said “Everyone is a little nervous, but we need the money.”

“President Newsom” was briefly trending on Twitter this week, following an interview with Rachel Maddow in which the governor announced that California had procured a monthly supply of 200 million N95 respiratory and surgical masks through negotiations with “a consortium of nonprofits.” Newsom later announced that California was able to loan 500 ventilators to states that were desperately undersupplied due to COVID-19. This led to some controversy within the state, where some counties are still concerned about their lack of ventilators on hand during a week when California anticipates a potential surge of cases. “It did catch us off guard,” said Kevin Jeffries, Riverside County's district supervisor. “Our request [for ventilators] through the state and feds have not been filled and our attempt to purchase them on the market has not been successful.”

After arriving on March 27, the Mercy, a massive floating hospital “carrying 1,000 beds, a crew of 800, 12 operating rooms, labs, pharmacy, and radiological equipment,” has treated just 31 patients, none of whom are COVID-19 patients. According to its captain, this is by design, with the ship currently testing the system in place so that it can act as a release valve for local area hospitals should they begin to see a surge in coronavirus cases. If necessary, the ship may shift to treating only coronavirus patients.

As programs that provided home health aides and other services have been forced to close by the COVID-19 pandemic, many families have had to start caring for severely disabled loved ones on their own. Caretakers for people with developmental disabilities are not specifically included in Newsom’s 14-page order enumerating who is and isn’t an essential worker. Students with disabilities — especially those in minority communities — have struggled similarly with a loss of their safety nets as an effect of district-wide school closures.

Local officials are beginning a crackdown on those who violate the state’s stay-at-home order, with Los Angeles arresting and fining individuals and filing criminal charges against businesses that refuse to close. Amid worries that cases may begin to surge in Los Angeles in the coming weeks, Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said that the city’s ability to manage the surge will depend on residents adhering to guidelines. The maximum penalty for a violation is a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

A nonprofit named Shared Harvest — founded by doctors Nana Afoh-Manin, Joanne Moreau, and Briana DeCuir — launched a pop-up coronavirus testing site in Culver City last week to serve uninsured and underinsured residents of Los Angeles. Despite the high costs of testing, they plan to expand the service. “The only way we are going to make sure that no individuals are left behind is to get into the community, meet them where they are, and provide the services they need so that we can stop this virus,” said CEO Afoh-Manin.

Coronavirus may exacerbate existing problems in the housing market in California, further driving up the cost of affordable housing, which in some counties has already reached the eye-popping sticker price of $1.1 million per unit. With over a million California residents recently having lost their jobs, the current 1.3 million shortfall in affordable housing units is likely to get even worse. Meanwhile, cities face a potentially devastating loss of tax revenue, which will leave them with even less money to finance affordable housing.

April 1, for many, was the first time their rent was due since COVID-19 cost them their employment, leading to uncertainty for many who will struggle to afford their rent. This week a patchwork of efforts at the state and local level sought to address this. At the April 7 meeting of the Los Angeles City Council, Councilmember Mike Bonin put forth a motion that would reclassify rent as “consumer debt,” which would mean that unpaid rent, though it would still need to be repaid, could no longer lead to an eviction. The motion will be considered at a later meeting. At the county level, supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis proposed an emergency rent-assistance program for up to $1,000 a month for three months to renters affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The strongest protection for tenants happened at the state level, as the Judicial Council adopted an emergency court rule that effectively — though not literally — prevents all evictions until 90 days after the governor lifts the state of emergency. None of these measures offer rent forgiveness, and all would leave tenants responsible for repaying back rent at some later date when they will again be vulnerable to eviction. Meanwhile, landlords are finding various ways of strong-arming and deceiving tenants into paying rent.

In an effort dubbed Project Roomkey, Los Angeles County officials will work with the state government and Federal Emergency Management Agency to utilize currently vacant hotel and motel rooms to house some of the county’s unhoused residents. Officials say that 1,340 beds will be available by next week. Their goal is to eventually reach 15,000, which would help just a quarter of the city’s 60,000 homeless, many of whom are considered highly vulnerable to the coronavirus. This effort is in conjunction with the city converting recreation centers into emergency shelters, with 563 beds installed at 13 locations so far.

A federal judge excoriated Los Angeles officials after he found that over 80% of handwashing stations in Skid Row were without water, leaving its vulnerable population without one of the key defenses to contracting coronavirus. In response, Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to have the stations refilled daily. The Legal Aid Foundation has further argued that the 410 handwashing stations around Los Angeles are inadequate for meeting the public health crisis. Food supplies for the unhoused are also being jeopardized due to hoarding and the economic downturn, as staples become hard to get and food pantry operations are disrupted.

California has issued its first fracking permits since July 2019, a move Jamie Court of Consumer Watchdog criticized, saying, “With the entire state shut down and kids out of school, what purpose could approving these fracking permits have now other than to do a solid for the oil industry when no one is watching.”

ELECTIONS

Senator Bernie Sanders has suspended his presidential campaign, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee and President Donald Trump’s general election opponent. While falling short of the nomination, Sanders had a transformative effect on national politics, raising vast sums of money exclusively through small-dollar donors and dramatically shifting the policy debate toward previously unthinkable initiatives such as Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, and free public college and student debt forgiveness. Biden, in an attempt to win over the Sanders coalition, has recently announced proposals such as lowering the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60 and means-tested student debt forgiveness.

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